


A Futile Fight

by KLStarre



Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: Alternate Point of View, Exquisite Corpse Entry, Gen, Mortal Coil - Freeform, POV Tanith Low, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-12 07:41:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4470941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KLStarre/pseuds/KLStarre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is no feeling worse than not being in control of your own body.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Futile Fight

Tanith Low stood by Skulduggery, his gun to Valkyrie’s head, her sword to her throat, and watched as the Remnants exited their hosts’ bodies. As they gathered in the air above them, they formed a giant, roiling mass of darkness. It was an impressive sight, and Tanith winced to think about what would happen if the Receptacle didn’t activate in time. Then she heard a faint whooshing noise from the mountain, where the Receptacle was, and tension that she hadn’t even known was _there_ released itself from her shoulders, and she relaxed. Her sword flickered away from Val’s throat, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Skulduggery reholster his gun, and Valkyrie slump in relief.

            She saw the Remnants swirl upwards, struggling to escape the pull and failing, screaming in fear and anger, unwilling to return to the prison that had been theirs for so long. A smile began to form across Tanith’s face and vanished immediately. Skulduggery, still watching Val, had seen it first, but it flitted away from her and towards Tanith, and she ducked, turned to run, swiped at it with her sword, knowing even as she fought that it was useless, futile. The Remnant that had escaped the pull forced her mouth open, and she thrashed against it, but the Remnant entered her throat. She felt its hands of blackness moving down her esophagus, and she gagged in one final, useless attempt that stopped when it reached her heart.

            Its hands squeezed, and her heart disappeared, to be covered, surrounded, _replaced_ by darkness. She felt it spreading through her mind, and retreated before it, her consciousness gathering in a little crevice in the corner of her mind and hiding. The Remnant surrounded the remainder of her consciousness and isolated it, cutting it off from her body. It took control of her, and she let it, hoping that eventually the little corner of her consciousness would grow strong enough to fight it off.

            When the thing that was not Tanith looked up, Valkyrie backed away, tears in her eyes. The little bit of Tanith that remained tried to struggle when she saw the pain in her friend’s face, but the Remnant quelled her with barely a thought, and she was forced to subside. Valkyrie and Skulduggery turned to run, and for a moment the Remnant was surprised at what it perceived as cowardice. But Tanith in her little mind island had to fight to keep her thoughts composed, fearing what the Remnant would see in them-that they were heading right towards the Receptacle.

            The Remnant, recovering from its surprise, made Tanith’s body run. Valkyrie looked back, hair streaming across her face as she ran, and the Remnant just made Tanith run faster. Valkyrie turned her head back to the front, and poured extra energy into her sprint, but the Remnant was gaining. They were level with the cavern that held the Receptacle now, and with a sudden, almost manic burst of speed, Valkyrie threw herself through the door that had been left open, Skulduggery beside her. The Remnant followed them mere seconds later, only to stop dead when it saw the Receptacle, spinning slowly, in all its terrible glory. To Tanith, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She could feel the Remnant being ripped from her body, and she readied herself to take over control, but before the Receptacle could complete its work, the Remnant was tackled by Valkyrie. Valkyrie’s weight pushed her away from the Receptacle, and now, instead of it helping Tanith, it was causing her pain as the Remnant latched itself onto her essence.

            Tanith could feel her veins and lips blackening as the Remnant resisted being ripped from her. Valkyrie was begging now, but Tanith’s perception of the world outside of her little island was weakening and becoming distorted, so she couldn’t discern her exact words. The Remnant that was controlling her body was standing now, and Valkyrie was on the floor. Tanith was dimly aware of her sword being held at Val’s throat for the second time in too short a time period.

            The Remnant flicked her eyes to look at the Receptacle, and Tanith realised with what would have been a lurch in her stomach that it was slowing. Noticeably slowing. The Remnant’s eyes flicked back to Valkyrie who instantly froze in the act of backing away. Now Valkyrie was talking again, but she wasn’t begging now, she was yelling, and Tanith tried to focus, she really did, but her limited abilities snapped her back. Now she was barely aware of what was going on around her, and she knew, just _knew_ that the Receptacle was about to stop and then it would all be over.

            So she fought, her mental self drawing an imaginary sword and slashing at the thing that had invaded her mind, but it laughed at her as it watched Skulduggery try to keep the Receptacle going. The Remnant cut at her with its own imaginary sword, a sword that seemed to fill her vision everywhere she looked. Now her envisioned arm had been cut off but the only advantage of not having a body was that she could not feel pain, and so she threw herself at the force that now appeared as a wall encircling her, confining her to her little island space, and was thrown back.

            The Remnant detached an infinitesimal amount of its consciousness, and it covered her, compressing her into a form that was virtually nonexistent. She could not see, could not feel, could not hear, and she had an idea that she wouldn’t be able to taste either. Around her was nothing but darkness, the darkness that her mind had become, but she wasn’t completely out of hope. Not yet, not as long as the Receptacle kept going, for as long as it did it kept part of the Remnant occupied. And then the Receptacle stopped.

            And Tanith was no more.


End file.
